The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1887-04-20

sufficient number Of polls In city or
county Is O perfect bar against general
suffrage. The plan has advantages over
the old system. 1t requiress no bludgeon |
or rife, hence no responsibility to courts |
for the consequences which may flow |
from tho use Of them. II calls for no
troops, with at the publicity which that |
form Of force or terrorism Involves. 1t Is,
you observe, a remedy quite peaceful in |
form and much more effective than the
vulgar methods which were once prefer.
red. II Ia the refined weapon Of cultured
unscrupulousness which smiles while It
Bmites. .M.
See how effectively II has operated. 1t
was contrived after the adoption Of the
new Constitution OF Georgia In December,
1877. OF the 32l 1888 electors In Georgia
In 1880 but 1880 or about one.hatf, voted
at the Presidential election OF that year.
OF the 800 900 electors In 1884 but l43 ,6l0,
or about 40 per cent, voted at the Pfesi.
dental election OF that year. OF the $780,
600 electors in 1850, only llb,5ol, or shout
so per cent, voted In 1886 at the State cleo.
ton for Governor, legislative and county
officers; and but 1868, or about 7 por
cont, at the election for Representatives.
In Congress. In tho only contested dis.
trict With but G,GS0 votes were polled.
In the IVth District Of Minnesota there
were o., 033 votes cast. Startling ~ these
6gurea arc, they indicate merely the de-
cay OF public life in Georgia under
the hteady and crushing repression
prsctiCod by the State. See in what spirit
that Legislature exercises Its discretionary
power over tho polls. The city Of At
lanta Ia the most prosperous municipality
in the State. 1thas population OF 10000
souls, voting populaticV OF 1000. How
many polling places arc given TO that
number Of voters? Exactly two-neither
| more nor les1. This act 10 based, nocegss.
rily, upon the theory either that the
whole vote Of that city ought not to he
potable, or that each set OF election Off.
GERS is capable Of receiving and counting
5000 votes in twelve hours. This would
he equalled II the Legislature Of Now York
State should abolish the SOB polling places
now exiB.ing in New York city and give
IL thirty.six, or abolish the 26S polling
places now existing in the city OF Brook
Ign and give 1t sixteen. Nor is Atlanta'a
plight exceptional. The city Of Savannah
10 with like liberslity given ono polling
place for It's many thousands OF voters.
In the country districts the same results
are reached by slightly different means
and Georgia 10 bound hand md foot while
the spoilsmen riot In their eh8me.
Such is the actual condition OF govern
ment in the central State OF the "new
South" and in tho very home Of the gush-
ing euloSis!. Tho contempt and indigna.
ton which instiuCtively intlame every
honest mind ore the proper answer OF the
North to this plan OF the "new South"
ior defyire the Constitution of,the coun.
try snd-Lor snnuliing ita NVth Amend.
ment. The new South, indeed. In its
purposes it ia the same old South which
resieted alike the NIIlth Amendment,
the Myth Amendment and the NVth
Amendment. 1t resisted the NIlIth
Amendment because then unwilling to
abolish pIN7ery for the security Of which
it made the Rebellion. 1t resisted the
Myth Amendment because that denied
to il the advantage oirepresentingthe color
ed race unless the South conceded suffrage
! 10 the colored race. And it resisted then and
! it repudiates now the Myth Amendment
because il il determined to have tho in
creased political power which orancipa-
ton gave the South without sharing the
power in the least degree with the freed
men who give it. Thus it stands in 1857
| exactly where j! stood in 1856. The "pew
South" in politics isg myth. The present
attitude OF the Gull States ia that OF covert
notification Of the Constitution Of the
country. and it deserves no more respect
than open notification in 1882 got from
Andrew JacAson or ilasraos secession in
1860 got from Abraham Lincoln. 1t is
defiing our representative institutions, is
pouring contempt upon their foundation
stone, the ireemeu's suffrage, and is gov.
ernins Us through this defiant crime,
which is successful % yet"